"Virginians need to clean house. Gov. Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring, and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax need to go, and each needs to be replaced with Democrats who Commonwealth voters can be confident have lived their shared progressive values.

"Let's be clear: Sexual assault and racism have no place in our politics, government, or anywhere.

After hearing the horrifying revelations about his past actions, we're calling on Lt. Gov. Fairfax to resign too, despite having once been of his most ardent, early supporters.

The one silver lining of the last week's very dark cloud is that the Commonwealth is blessed with a deep and diverse Democratic bench of Black, brown, and LGBTQ women and men capable of leading the Virginia that has rejected the Party of Trump repeatedly over the last three elections.

"We urge the leadership of the Democratic Party of Virginia to identify the individuals best suited to fill these needed vacancies on Virginia's executive leadership team, and organize a swift transition of power that ensures that the will of Commonwealth voters is not undone by these necessary resignations." – Yvette Simpson, CEO, Democracy for America

Charles Chamberlain, the chair of the grass-roots liberal group Democracy for America, said it can be risky for Democrats to campaign on a return-to-normalcy message. “Democrats are hungry for real change and I would argue that’s part of why we lost in 2016,” he said.